ok , this may be a wiered or odd question but,,,

[Hunter_Smurf]

can anyone show me pics of hens and toms at diferent stages of life.....   

do all toms have the extreme RED WHITE BLUE or are there variations?

reason i am asking is because i have seen some turkeys this week,,  one in a field on the side of the road and 2 i called in ..  they have a real dark reddish colored head .. the one in the field had a beard. the other two i didnt get a chance to see they were in tall grass then ran after they busted my hunting partner

they didn't look like an " ordinary tom "  the heads looked like hens but they were reddish ( real dark red )..

i was thinking maybe they were just odd colored hens then i saw the 8-10 inch beared on the one in the field.. now im not sure what to think..lol    are there veriations on toms or are there diferent stages for ages? 

i can surely pick out a tom in strut or with the typical red head  but these few have me confused..

 i couldnt see the feather tips either they were in tall grass as i said,,

they had a very soft looking head... not full of warty looking things and from what i seen i couldnt see the long waddle like a tom... im confussed...lol     thanks for any help

i am in NY STATE so eastern turkey are the ones around here..


also my first year turkey hunting last year i saw one jake (real red head)  and two hens one bearded... i can add a pic of the bearded hen if anyone wants to see it..lol  thanks

[chipmunk]

Around here (WV) there is a lot of variation.   

Hens tend to have grayish heads and gobblers tend to have either dark red or the bright red/white/blue pattern.   I say "tend to" because it's not always that way.  Last year I killed a large gobbler that had a gray head.  I have also seen a hen with reddish colored head (I know it was a hen because it had a bunch of babies with it) 


If you don't mind me asking...what makes you say that one in the pic is a bearded hen?  I would say it looks like a small gobbler to me.   I'm no expert though.

[buck460XVR]

Over the years I have seen several bearded hens.......folks say that approximately 1 outta ten hens has some kind of beard, kinda the same as multi-bearded Toms.

A Tom's head will change colors in the spring along with his mood.......and like a bucks neck, his head is larger because of blood engorgement during the breeding season. It's kinda like a neon sign for attracting hens. When he's  really hot and excited(as when he's displaying) it will be bright white. In early light or fog it almost looks like it's glowing. Toms can may their whole head glow, but jakes usually can only make the top of their head glow. The color will change to a blue as his excitement level drops and when his head turns red, he's either mad or alarmed. If his head turns red, you best shoot if you can, cause he's probably gonna be gettin' the 'ell out. Jakes heads will generally be bright red when they're excited during the spring breeding season, so it's harder to tell their mood. Usually they're not as wary, so it don't matter. During other times of the year, male turkeys heads are generally a pale pink to light grey.

[Hunter_Smurf]

i assumed it was a hen because of a few things..

1. it had no spurs at all.. 

2. it was more brownish than black colored

3. it had feathers up on its head

4. it was with another bird of the same color , size , but the second one didn't have any beard

was i wrong?   i would have let it walk either way.

this was my first year back hunting turkey,  i just started to get into it before i was injured in 2002 but hadn't even looked at turkey for around 5 years   

[efremtags]

Hen's can grow beards. Not common, but I have seen 1 a family member shot back in the 90s.